Pfrimmerhof (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)

Pfrimmerhof, an estate near the village of Sippersfeld in the Palatinate (coordinates: 49° 33’ N, 7° 56’ E), which was leased to Mennon­ites from the beginning of the 18th century, and which has been farmed by their descendants since the beginning of the 19th century as their property. The earlier village Primmen or Prümen, belonging to the monastery of Rosenthal and to the baron of Stauf, was completely destroyed in the Thirty Years' War, and the ruins were inhabited for dec­ades solely by charcoal burners. In 1702 the entire farm (300 Morgen) of desolate land was given by the Nassau-Weilburg authorities to Casimir Lander, his son Hans Jakob, and his son-in-law Hans Jakob Schwarz in hereditary lease. They built three homes, as well as barns, stables, and other buildings, but stayed only a few years. On 14 September 1709, Jost Krehbiel took over the estate; it thus became the home site of the widely ramified Krehbiel family. Some members of the family immigrated to America, including Jakob Krehbiel, the author of the "Chronik des Pfrimmerhofs," who settled in New York in 1831. Through marriage the names of Staufler and Bletscher were at times represented on the Pfrimmerhof. Today there are on the Pfrim­merhof in addition to a non-Mennonite family, two Krehbiel families and a Fellmann family, who are members of the Sembach congregation.